EA Sports Hockey League Coming to Back to NHL 16

EA Sports Hockey League will make its return with NHL 16. According to EA, it looked to its hockey franchise’s biggest fans to shape the next version of the game.

“Their most requested features and modes are in NHL 16,” EA said, adding that it’s also added new experiences that make the game “bigger and better.” One such addition is single-player, offline season play in Hockey Ultimate Team mode.

Be a GM mode now allows for managing the morale of individual players on the roster, and Be a Pro sees the return of sim to the next shift, first introduced in NHL 12. It also sees the ability to start a career in the minors and a new progression system where “how you play on the ice shapes who you become in the NHL.”

The missing features in last year’s game were attributed to quality control, with EA citing a lack of confidence in the mode’s quality. “We’re a franchise built on quality,” EA Sports producer Sean Ramjagsingh wrote on EA’s website last year.

NHL 16 is slated for a September release.

What do you think, NHL fans? Is EA on the right track with NHL 16? We want to hear about it in the comments, but please avoid throwing any haymakers.